The Photographic Historical Society

Milton C. Shares will speak on “Photographs: Underwater & Slides–and a Camera Collection.” He has done much underwater photography, including helping with Kodak’s underwater Colorama. He began making underwater housings for cameras in 1954. Milt also helped photograph Lake Champlain’s sunken horse-powered ferry boat in the 1980s. His company, Slide World Associates, produced audio-visual productions for companies and individuals around the world. His collection of about 80 different cameras includes 50 Kodak models dating back to the 1890s.

We meet at 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Pittsford Plaza, 3349 Monroe Ave. in Pittsford, NY.

UPCOMING MEETINGS in 2015:

Jan. 15, 2015: Sharon Bloemendaal will introduce the non-profit Camera Heritage Museum in Staunton, Va., founded in 2011. On display are about 2,500 cameras. (cameraheritagemuseum.com)

Feb. 19, 2015: Grant Romer, daguerreotypist and long-time GEH staff member, will speak on “Daguerre’s 1839 Gift to the Czar: A Daguerreotype Tryptich.” Romer was among a team of experts who evaluated them. These were the first photographs publicly exhibited in Russia.

MEMBER NEWS:

Frank Mehlenbacher is recovering from cancer surgery at St. Ann’s Community at 1500 Portland Ave., 295-5008. Cards may be sent to 1 Doral Court, Pittsford, N.Y. 14534. His good friend, Grace Fraatz, visits often.

Rolf Fricke is unable to speak in November; he is suffering from trigeminal neuralgia

Ryerson Image Center Symposium, “Photography Historians: A New Generation” will be held March 26-28, 2015 in Toronto. The focus is on art, culture, class and power. A call for papers: respond by Nov. 30 to Thierry Gervais gervais@ryerson.ca.

New York Photo Show April 17-18, at the Lighthouse, 111 East 59th St. usphotoshows.com; syager@aol.com

Holiday Soirée by RAVA and ROC

Rochester AudioVisual Associaton and Rochester Documentary Filmmakers invite you on Monday, December 1 from 5:30-9 p.m. for a holiday gathering with fellow media colleagues. Guests are welcome!

Jeffrey Wynn spoke knowledgably about the work of Eastman Kodak and Exelis. Wynn began at EK in 1965, and worked at the Lincoln Plant on the lunar orbiter, which is now at the Eastman House. ITT Space Systems were later spun off to Exelis, where Wynn is now an engineering and program development consultant.

In 1955 U2 Aerial imaging used 9.5-inch film

The ’56 SAMOS was the first reconnaissance film with on-board film processing.

The ’58 Corona was film based, with the Bridgehead image processed at the Hawkeye Plant. Of the Corona missions, 102 of the 145 were successful. 186,000 images gave the US the first glimpse behind the Iron Curtain.

The SAMOS E5 and E6 had a film retrieval system employing Satellite Re-entry Vehicles (SRV’s).

R-KH7 and K Gambit KH8 operated from 1963 until 1980 producing close-up images of denied access areas. The final KH8 system had two SRV’s and contained 10,000 feet of 9.5-inch-wide, ultra-thin based, high resolution film. The larger KH8 payload weighted 2100 pounds; the optics all together weighed about 1200 pounds with the metering structure lens barrel alone weighing 449 pounds. It would fly over every 90 minutes; one declassified image presented was a Soviet aircraft carrier seen under construction.

The HEXAGON (KH9) payload flew complementary missions to KH8 doing wide area search imaging mission. Although Kodak did not make this payload, Kodak provided the 6-inch wide high resolution film. Nicknamed “Big Bird” each payload had four SRV’s to return the 60 miles of film. This system flew missions between 1971-1986.

Space Explorations Systems: the fourth line from the top shows the Chandra and JWST.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has a 6.5-meter segmented primary mirror aperture and the telescope protective sunshade is the size of a tennis court. The telescope is folded up and launched using an Ariane 5 booster launched from the French Guinea facility. JWST segmented primary mirror uses 18 lightweight hexagon shaped beryllium (1.5 meter) mirrors and since beryllium is toxic when machined, special facilities are required for grinding and polishing the optics.

The future Advanced Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) is envisioned to be either a 8-meter monolithic primary mirror telescope or possibly a 20-meter aperture employing a segmented set of mirrors similar to JWST.

Feser, a doctoral student at Chicago University, is doing a dissertation on how Kodak impacted the people and places of Rochester. She is interviewing former Kodak workers about their time with the company. If you are interested in participating or know anyone who might be, contact Ali at feser@uchicago.edu (716) 680-2167.